Thursday, August 18, 2016, 8pm Hearst Greek Theatre The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma Kinan Azmeh, Kayhan Kalhor, Jeffrey Beecher, bass Yo-Yo Ma, cello Mike Block, cello Cristina Pato, Galician bagpipes, piano Nicholas Cords, viola Shane Shanahan, percussion Sandeep Das, tabla Mark Suter, percussion Haruka Fujii, percussion Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi Johnny Gandelsman, violin Wu Man, Joseph Gramley, percussion Wu Tong, sheng, suona Colin Jacobsen, violin

Cristina Pato, Wu Tong Fanfare for Gaita and Suona Traditional Malian, arr. Shane Shanahan Ichichila Traditional Irish, arr. Colin Jacobsen O’Neill’s Cavalry March Wu Man, arr. Ljova Green (Vincent’s Tune) Kinan Azmeh, Jeffrey Beecher Syrian Improvisation Michio Mamiya Miero vuotti uutta kuuta, from Five Finnish Folksongs Wu Man, Wu Tong Duo Colin Jacobsen Atashgah* Sandeep Das, Kojiro Umezaki If you shall return... † Antonín Dvořák, arr. Jeremy Kittel Going Home Billy Strayhorn, arr. Shane Shanahan Take the “A” Train**

INTERMISSION

David Bruce Cut the Rug *** Drag the goat – Bury the hatchet – Move the earth – Wake the dead Paco de Lucía, arr. Colin Jacobsen Zyryab Kinan Azmeh Wedding

* Commissioned by the Laguna Beach Music Festival for Kayhan Kalhor and Rider and premiered in 2011. ** Arrangement commissioned by Reservoir Media for The Silk Road Ensemble in 2015. *** Commissioned by Silkroad in 2012. † Commissioned by Silkroad and dedicated to Anna and Peter Davol, with deep affection and thanks.

This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Nadine Tang and Bruce Smith.

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here are many different kinds of home— In 2007, Yo-Yo suggested that we use the art and physical, childhood, those that we build tradition of indigo dyeing to connect disciplines Tin our memories, and many others. Silk - and cultures in our work with elementary road is a creative home for me and for mem - school students. During the course of that ex - bers of The Silk Road Ensemble, a place where ploration, Harvard musicologist Ingrid Monson we return to explore new artistic languages, to shared this song with me. Ichichila is a tune tra - encounter friends and strangers, and to find joy ditionally sung by the Tuareg people while dye - in unexpected connections. One of the ways we ing textiles in indigo pits, and its groove comes have deepened our relationships over the years from the rhythm of textiles being plunged in is by bringing each other home. Over the course and out of the dye with long sticks. I was drawn of this evening, we invite you to join us as we to this rhythmic foundation, to the song’s re - share what home sounds like for many of us. laxed vibe, and to the way the music was used to As you listen, I think you will hear how dif - ease the burden of difficult work. ferent our homes are. For us, this is one of the —Shane Shanahan great pleasures of Silkroad: we celebrate differ - ence; we cultivate curiosity in our exploration The great Irish fiddler Martin Hayes intro - and generosity in our sharing. In our home, duced us to O’Neill’s Cavalry March —a tune something completely unfamiliar presents a I understand to be so iconic in the Irish tradi - precious opportunity to build something new. tion that it is almost a cliche. The bones of this Many of the selections tonight represent old tune, which dates back to the early 1800s, music that ensemble members have written or are so strong that it has weathered various arranged for the group over the years. I am par - treatments over the years. When I first heard ticularly excited to share this aspect of what we Martin play it, I was captured by its solitary, do; I believe that by writing or arranging music, stoic character, and yet immediately felt that a musician goes beyond knowing and express - there was a way to add layers of instruments ing a tradition and becomes an agent of its evo - and subtle hints of harmony. Featured in the lution, creating something new. instrumentation are the sounds of Kayhan Kal - Welcome to our home. hor’s kamancheh , as well as Kojiro Umezaki’s —Yo-Yo Ma shakuhachi , Wu Man’s pipa , and a complement (adapted from liner notes from of Western strings. The Silk Road Ensemble’s latest recording, —Colin Jacobsen Sing Me Home, Sony Masterworks, 2016) I wrote Green (Vincent’s Tune) as part of the The Fanfare for Gaita and Suona was devel - suite Blue–Red–Green for The Silk Road oped by ensemble members Cristina Pato and Ensemble. When my son Vincent was four Wu Tong to explore the idea of connecting two years old, he would often run around singing sides of the world—Europe and Asia—through this tune. One day I asked him where he had a musical dialog between two instruments that heard it, and he said, “I don’t know, Mommy. have in common a powerful sonority and a pro - I made it up.” I was so struck by his melody that found relationship with their respective tradi - I turned it into a composition as a way to cap - tions. This open call between the gaita (Galician ture his youth and the wonderful times we bagpipes) and suona (Chinese horn) launches spent together. this evening’s program with a conversation be - The piece is named after my favorite color. tween traditional wind instruments as they at - Green represents spring, when everything tempt to understand, connect with, and respect grows and has renewed energy and enthusi - each other’s cultural roots. asm—much like a four-year-old child. —Isabelle Hunter —Wu Man

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Michio Mamiya's compositions were greatly pressed them was an ancient fire temple, or influenced by his insatiable curiosity about the atashgah , outside the city of Esfahan. Originally traditional music of his native Japan, along with built as a holy site for the Zoroastrian religion in that of Scandinavia and Africa. His long and the Sassanid period of Iran’s history (third to distinguished career as one of Japan’s leading sixth centuries CE), it felt to these travelers like musical figures serves as an inspiration to The a place of significant power—a place that makes Silk Road Ensemble. Early on in his life as a one aware of the layers of history. For Jacobsen, composer, Mamiya became fascinated with the the experience of listening to Kalhor play music Sami people of Finland (also known as the can be “like watching a fire in a fireplace; it is Lapps), the indigenous people of sub-Arctic mesmerizing, hypnotic, and yet constantly Scandinavia who represent a somewhat sur - changing. His music comes from a deep inner prising musical and linguistic connection to the creative fire.” Jacobsen caught a spark of that East. Inspired to explore deeper, Mamiya trav - creative fire, and on returning from Iran that eled to Finland to study its indigenous music, summer, was inspired by his experience to do following his studies in Western classical com - something with what he had heard and en - position at the Tokyo Academy. Tonight’s selec - countered. He has been writing and arranging tion, Miero vuotti uutta kuuta (a song of the music ever since, and Atashgah , composed for new moon) is a brief but loving snapshot of kamancheh and Western strings, is one result of these encounters and is excerpted from that inspiration. Mamiya's larger 1977 collection for cello and —Isabelle Hunter piano, Five Finnish Folksongs. —Nicholas Cords The story of If You Shall Return… started when tabla player Sandeep Das whispered a re - When ensemble members Nicholas Cords and peating musical theme characteristic of Bhatiali Colin Jacobsen visited Kayhan Kalhor in Iran boat songs from the Bengali-speaking regions in the summer of 2004 on a Silkroad-sponsored of the Brahmaputra River. As in a game of mu - cultural exchange, one of many sights that im - sical telephone, the whispered theme quickly

17 PROGRAM NOTES transformed in the ears and instruments of tently plagued by malfunctioning PA systems, other ensemble members, changing in musical clattering breakdowns, and stalls, some of mode and rhythmic emphasis, and evolving which I have tried to portray in this arrange - with the addition of a new melody inspired by ment. I was very excited by the opportunity to Jiangnan Sizhu (silk and bamboo music of the create a Silkroad version of this very familiar lower reaches of the Yangtze River). tune. Our unusual instrumentation presented Emerging from those core elements is a form some intriguing possibilities and I hoped to that is steps away from an archetype common make a piece that would be a unique addition to to jazz charts, a foundation that welcomes many the already plentiful catalog of “‘A’ Train” different musical voices. arrangements. Once out of sight of the shores of the river, —Shane Shanahan once beyond the threshold, once transformed, what will have changed if you—the boatman, When composer David Bruce developed Cut the lover—shall return? the Rug for The Silk Road Ensemble in 2012, —Kojiro Umezaki he was inspired not only by the concept of the Silk Road but by filmmaker Tony Gatlif’s doc - Silkroad is a connector and a bridge builder; its umentary Latcho Drom , which explores the music is vitally reflective of our shared human - broad, multicultural embrace of Roma, or ity and our global trajectories, and plays a nat - gypsy, music. “The idea of all these diverse but ural role in the need for greater cross-cultural equally vibrant musics being part of one large exchange. It seems that Dvořák would have family has always appealed to me,” David says, been a kindred spirit in these matters. The “as has the ease and naturalness with which new Largo from his New World Symphony was a styles have been integrated into a developing cross-cultural masterwork from the beginning, musical language as the Roma have moved so shaped was his compositional voice by the from one area to another. In my piece, I think range of American cultures and music that he there is a similarly wide spread of cultural in - loved. The lyrics of Going Home , originally set fluences, which I hope integrate to create some - to Dvořák’s music by William Arms Fisher, are thing new—there are a few drops of Kyrgyzstan; beautifully translated into Chinese and sung by definite hints of ; a pinch of flamenco; the marvelous and multifaceted Wu Tong. It perhaps even a dash of American Cajun music; was such a pleasure to work with the Silkroad and many influences besides.” The title is a play family, and to write music for Yo-Yo, one of my on the rugs the Central Asian region so fa - heroes, was a particular joy. There’s much talk mously produces, but it also teases the jazz age of music’s bridge-building capabilities, but it’s lingo “cut the rug”—the deft skill of a dancer only through a great deal of intention that these who can wow a crowd. possibilities are made real. Hats off to Silkroad —Isabelle Hunter for making such a continued effort, and how in - spiring it is to be a part of it! When celebrated virtuoso flamenco guitarist —Jeremy Kittel Paco de Lucía released his famous 1990 album Zyryab , he reconvened the Paco de Lucía Sextet Before I moved to , I had no idea (including his brothers Ramón and Pepe) along that Take the “A” Train —the classic 1939 Billy with jazz pianist Chick Corea and fellow gui - Strayhorn tune made famous by Duke Elling - tarist Manolo Sanlúcar. The album’s title track ton and his orchestra—referred to an actual was inspired by a different branch of Spanish train! Now, after having lived there for 16 years, musical heritage— instrumental music. and having ridden the A train many times, it It is named after the 9th-century Kurdish has taken on a whole new meaning. Needless musician, poet, and cultural trendsetter Ziryab, to say, the subway system is not the most who worked at the court of the Umayyad beloved institution in New York. It is consis - Caliphate in Córdoba and is believed to have 18 PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS

introduced the Persian lute to Spain—thus be - Many of the selections on this evening’s program coming the godfather of the Spanish guitar and are available on Sing Me Home, The Silk Road flamenco. Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma’s most recent recording —adapted from a note by Zoe Kemmerling (Sony Masterworks—2016).

Wedding , the third and final movement of my About Silkroad Suite for Improviser and Orchestra, was origi - Inspired by the exchange of ideas and traditions nally written in 2007 for my trio, Hewar (clar - along the historical Silk Road, cellist Yo-Yo Ma inet, , and voice). The suite tries to blur the established Silkroad in 1998 to explore how the lines between the composed and the impro - arts can advance global understanding. Silkroad vised, based on my belief that the best written works to connect the world through the arts, music sounds spontaneous and improvised, focusing its efforts in three areas: musical and that the best improvisation sounds struc - performance, learning programs, and cultural tured and composed. This movement is based entrepreneurship. Silkroad gratefully acknowl - on that same principle—giving room for the edges the support of individuals, foundations, soloists to play freely within the larger structure and corporations, including the National of the work. The piece captures the general Endowment for the Arts, the National Endow - mood of a wedding party in a Syrian village, ment for the Humanities, and its corporate usually held in the public square so that every - sponsor, Hyosung Corp. one can attend. These parties are always excit - ing and never predictable. I dedicate this piece The many-faceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma is to all the Syrians who have managed to fall in testament to his continual search for new ways love in the past five years. to communicate with audiences and to his per - —Kinan Azmeh sonal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Ma

19 ABOUT THE ARTISTS maintains a balance between his engagements The ensemble performs throughout the as a soloist with orchestras worldwide and world, and has recorded six albums. Its new his recital and chamber music activities. His album, Sing Me Home , was developed and discography of over 100 albums includes 18 recorded alongside the new documentary fea - Grammy award winners. ture The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Ma serves as the artistic director of Silkroad, Silk Road Ensemble from Oscar-winning direc - an organization he founded to promote cross- tor Morgan Neville—in theaters now. cultural performance and collaboration. He Curiosity. Creativity. Generosity. Passion. also serves as the Judson and Joyce Green The same qualities that make a performance Creative Consultant to the Chicago Symphony great can change our world for the better. Learn Orchestra’s Negaunee Music Institute. Ma’s more about Silkroad’s work in classrooms and work focuses on the transformative power communities around the world at silkroadpro - music can have in individuals’ lives, and on in - ject.org/culturematters. creasing the number and variety of opportuni - ties audiences have to experience music in their Exclusive Management communities. Opus 3 Artists Ma was born in Paris to Chinese parents who 470 Park Avenue South later moved the family to New York. He began New York, NY 10016 to study cello at the age of four, attended the , and in 1976 graduated from Tour Management Harvard University. He has received numerous Mary Pat Buerkle, senior vice president, awards, among them the Avery Fisher Prize manager, artists & attractions, Opus 3 Artists (1978), the National Medal of Arts (2001), and Silkroad Staff the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010). In Yo-Yo Ma, artistic director and founder 2011, Ma was recognized as a Kennedy Center Laura Freid, chief executive officer and Honoree. Most recently, he has joined the board executive director of trustees of the Aspen Institute. Ma has per - Cristin Canterbury Bagnall, director of formed for eight American presidents, most re - artistic and learning programs cently at the invitation of President Obama on Joseph Gramley, associate artistic director the occasion of the 56th Inaugural Ceremony. Liz Keller-Tripp , artistic administrator For additional information, please visit Ben Mandelkern, communications manager www.yo-yoma.com, www.silkroadproject.org, Christopher Marrion, deputy director and www.opus3artists.com. Jessica Shuttleworth, digital media and events specialist About The Silk Road Ensemble Ed Sweeney, comptroller/business manager Since 2000, The Silk Road Ensemble has been at Lori Taylor, education specialist the core of Silkroad’s work in the arts, learning, and cultural entrepreneurship. Under the artis - Production Staff tic direction of Yo-Yo Ma and representing a Aaron Copp, production manager and global array of cultures, the ensemble models lighting designer new forms of cultural exchange through per - Jody Elff, sound engineer formances, workshops, and residencies. The Tim Grassel, company manager artists of the ensemble draw on the rich tapes - Lisa Porter, stage manager try of traditions from around the world that Elijah Walker, monitor engineer make up our many-layered contemporary iden - tities, weaving together the foreign and famil - iar to create a new musical language.

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herever we perform—from a public square in Istanbul to storied stages in cities across the —our goal is the same: to weave the Wforeign and familiar together into a new musical language, one that embraces our differences and celebrates the joy we find in one another. The gen - erosity and virtuosity that you see from the ensemble on stage reflects our inspi - ration, the open exchange of ideas and traditions that took place along the historical Silk Road, the trade network that enabled the migration of people and their cultures for centuries. Although we begin with music, our work in communities and classrooms around the world is inspired by the belief that art is a vehicle for exchange. Art in all its forms opens windows on the world and offers new ways to connect in the face of fragmentation and friction. We have seen how art can express ideas that have enormous importance for so - ciety, but at the scale of individuals. This summer marks the completion of a new Silkroad album and a documentary film, both of which explore a few of these uni - versal themes through per sonal stories. On Sing Me Home , our newest recording, Silkroad musicians reflect on the meaning of home, interpreting original and tra - ditional folk songs with a range of guest artists. Sing Me Home is the companion album to The Music of Strangers , a documentary from Oscar winner Morgan Neville that captures five of the many individual journeys behind Silkroad—it’s in theaters now. As we mark 18 years of Silkroad, we feel tremendous gratitude to our partners across the globe—friends who share the conviction that, today more than ever, culture matters. Join us at silkroadproject.org to learn more about our programs for educators, artists, and cultural entrepreneurs. We believe that if you want to change the world, you have to make a little noise.

Yo-Yo Ma Laura Freid Founder and artistic director CEO and executive director

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